FRANK CHING

THE close of nominations this week moves the Hong Kong Chief Executive election campaign into its final and most crucial phase. Hong Kong is fortunate to have effective individuals competing for the top job who have spent decades serving the public, in the government or in the judiciary. It is…

THE telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb. 9moved the two countries back from the edge of a precipice. Trump had announced that he might reject the “One China” policy, which all US administrations had accepted since the 1970s, unless Beijing made trade…

THESE are dark days for Hong Kong. Its freedom index has just been further downgraded by Washington-based Freedom House to 61 points out of 100, continuing the downward spiral of recent years–-a result of increasing interference by Beijing in the territory’s domestic affairs despite China’s promises of autonomy. The abduction…

IN the confusing environment generated by US President Donald Trump, in which he has criticized his allies more than America’s opponents, the trip by Defense Secretary James M. Mattis to Seoul and Tokyo was reassuring, with the United States reiterating its defense commitments to South Korea and Japan. It was…

THREE days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, when he launched the United States on a protectionist course, China’s leader Xi Jinping gave a keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos where he issued a clarion call for economic globalization. Whereas Trump said that, “Protection will lead to great prosperity…

DONALD J. Trump’s inauguration on January 20 as the 45th President was a defining moment in American history, as the United States turned inward, discarding the mantle of leadership that it had assumed over the last 75 years. Having run as a populist candidate, it is not surprising that the…

REX Tillerson, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, stirred up a hornet’s nest when he condemned Chinese actions in the South China Sea, comparing the construction of artificial…

TAIWAN’s leader, President Tsai Ing-wen, arrived in Honduras Sunday for a closely watched four-nation Central American visit but, in China at least, there was much more interest in her stopovers in the United States – Houston on the way out and San Francisco on the way home. However, President-elect Donald…

TWENTY years ago, Hong Kong was handed over to China by Britain, its colonial master for 156 years. The decision was made by China’s diminutive but doughty leader Deng Xiaoping and the reputedly unbending “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher had little choice but to acquiesce. The thinking was that, with the…

As 2016 draws to a close, China’s economic, political and military posture is higher than ever. It has challenged the United States in the South China Sea by seizing an unmanned underwater vehicle before the US navy could retrieve it, then returned it a few days later with a warning…